A trusted gang “adherent” who laundered hundreds of thousands of euro for the Kinahan criminal organisation has been jailed for five years by the Special Criminal Court, while his partner and co-accused has walked from court with a suspended sentence.
Jonathan Harding, of Kerdiff Avenue, Naas, Co Kildare, was caught after he was spotted by gardaí leaving an arsenal of firearms and ammunition that could “arm a small country”.
The non-jury court found on Tuesday that it “did not require a great leap of the imagination” to conclude that accounts belonging to Harding and his co-accused were used as a “travel service” by the criminal organisation.
Harding (48) was sentenced for laundering a total of over €342,000 for what presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt called a “serious criminal organisation” of which Harding was a “trusted adherent” from 2012 to 2016.
Mr Justice Hunt sentenced Harding to six years and nine months’ imprisonment but suspended the final 18 months on five separate charges, leaving a net sentence of five years and three months. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
Mr Justice Hunt mitigated the sentences downwards for Harding’s early plea of guilty to the five offences under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2010.
Forensic analysis of accounts linked to Harding’s partner Carol Davis (45) of Clonmacnoise Road, Crumlin, Dublin 22, had revealed that over €44,000 was spent on travel while €40,000 was spent on a mobile home, the non-jury court heard. Davis pleaded guilty on the basis that she was “reckless” to allow Harding access to her accounts and the court heard she was “not involved in any underlying criminality”.
An analysis of accounts linked to Harding showed that €52,000 was spent on travel alone, but that gardaí had no ability to say who took the 100 flights concerned.
Ms Davis, who was not aware of Harding using her accounts, pleaded guilty to three offences under the same Act and received a three-year suspended sentence on all offences.
Detective Sergeant Tom Anderson, of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, previously told Ms Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, that on January 24th, 2017, on foot of a warrant targeting organised crime, gardaí went to a business premises in Greenogue, Rathcoole, Dublin 24.
Det Sgt Anderson said that two men were observed leaving the premises while the search was about to be executed.
The witness said that 15 firearms, including a Kalashnikov, a sub-machine gun, and a semi-automatic weapon were found alongside a device to manufacture vehicle registrations, while a stolen forklift and a mobile tracking device were also found.
Harding previously pleaded guilty to the possession of nine revolvers, four pistols, a sub-machine gun, an assault rifle and various ammunition magazines and was sentenced to ten years in prison with one year suspended in January 2018.
In July 2019 Declan Brady (54), who is known as ‘Mr Nobody’ and who was tasked by senior criminal figures abroad to supervise the weapons cache, was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years imprisonment after pleading guilty to possession of the weapons.
Passing sentence on Tuesday, Mr Justice Hunt said that Harding’s guilty plea to five money laundering offences had been accepted and that other offences under the Act had been taken into account.
Mr Justice Hunt said that after the search of the business premises, a follow-up search was carried out on Harding’s Naas home that uncovered financial information that led to an AIB account holding €48,553 being frozen by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) before being seized by the State.
Information regarding 13 accounts in various financial institutions was investigated by gardaí, with five accounts deemed relevant to Harding’s and Davis’ laundering charges.
Two of the accounts were held in Harding’s name while three were held in Davis’ name and related to EBS, Bank of Ireland and AIB accounts.
Harding had described himself as a self-employed “mobile mechanic” but had no limited company status, nor a trading name.
Mr Justice Hunt said that Harding had accepted responsibility for using Davis’ account without her knowledge and said that Harding’s guilty plea was of “substantial value” in avoiding a lengthy and technical trial.
Mr Justice Hunt said that Harding had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had expressed remorse in a letter regretting his lapse back into criminality after his release in 2009.
The judge said that aggravating factors in Harding’s case was the facilitation of the activities of a criminal organisation, to which Harding was a “trusted adherent”, the amount of money involved — €342,748 in total - the protracted period of the offences and the intentional deception of his co-accused.
Mr Justice Hunt said that if neither Harding nor Davis availed of the money from the accounts for travel then it “did not require a great leap of the imagination” to conclude that it was a “travel service” of significant value to the criminal organisation.
Mr Justice Hunt said a pre-mitigation headline sentence of nine years was appropriate before reducing that to six years and nine months after giving credit for Harding’s early guilty plea and co-operation.
The maximum sentence for a money-laundering offence under the 2010 Act is 14 years.
Mr Justice Hunt said that Harding had positively engaged with courses in prison but said that Harding had an “appalling previous record”.
Mr Justice Hunt suspended the final 18 months on all five sentences and Harding signed a bond to be of good behaviour for three years after his release.
Regarding Davis, who was on bail, the judge said that she had assisted in CAB inquiries and had not come to adverse attention before or since her arrest.
Mr Justice Hunt said that her barrister, Mr Ronan Kennedy SC, said that Davis made “unwise decisions”, had been of good character, had entered her guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and was a carer for her aunt.
The court previously heard that Davis told her interviewers that what was being put to her was “a lot to take in” and heard that she seemed in “genuine disbelief” over the offences and that medical assistance had been sought for her when in custody.
Mr Justice Hunt said that a pre-mitigation headline sentence was three years for each of Davis’ three offences before he suspended all three in their entirety with Davis signing a bond to be of good behaviour for that time.